There are 3 things I love about June: 1. The weather is getting super good in Belgium; 2. Double salary; 3. We are getting the Eco cheques (250 euro) for the year as part of the perks from Belgian salary.

Some people don’t have an immediate need or interest in spending Eco cheques and end up forgetting them in the account. Note the normal validity of eco cheques is 2 years, due to the coronavirus situation, the validity of eco cheques (and others) has been prolonged for 6 months. Nevertheless, to remind you of the various ways of spending them, I am writing a summary post, it is only information based on my own experiences, I don’t get any sponsorship from any shops.

Welcome to leave comments for discussion. 🙂

1. Electrical appliances with eco cheques

My husband and I have moved multiple times in Belgium, and each time there are some household appliances to purchase. If you are with 2, in total 500 euros per year can serve a lot! We have bought all the electrical appliances for our house over the years, ranging from the washing machine, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, kitchen ventilator, etc using eco cheques. If you are planning to move or have some plans to enrich or replace your home appliances, don’t forget to consider using them!

In Belgium, you can go to Vanden Borre, Krefel, or even Ikea to purchase home appliances with eco-cheques.

New EU energy labels

The only condition to purchase the appliances with eco cheques is that they must be of a certain energy label. Since March 2021, the European Union rolled out a new standard for labeling the energy consumption level for home appliances. For light bulbs and lamps, the relabeling will be rolled out starting in September 2021.

Eco cheque conditions for old and new energy-labeled home appliances

For home appliances with the old energy label: only A +, A ++, and A +++ can be purchased using eco cheques.

Home appliance with the new European energy label 2021:
– Fridges, freezers, or combis: ABCD
– Dishwashers: ABC
– Washing machines and dryers or combis: A
– Displays and TVs: ABCD

2. Bikes, biking accessories, and bike maintenance

Cycling is one of the must-have sports for a Belgian, especially for the Flemish people. The cycling route in Belgium is also quite advanced and continuously being improved. My workplace is 3.6 km from where I work, so I go to work by bike through the farmland, it is one of my favorite and most relaxing moments of the day. Even if you don’t go to work by bike, having a bike can still help a lot for your errands, or just for sports.

You can purchase a bike and all the accessories for bikes such as a helmet, lamps, loading bags for bikes, locks, and so on using eco cheques, as well as pay for bike maintenance. Decathlon (but not limited to it) has everything you need, feel free to find a store near your place and start with the shopping! I bought my first bike in Leuven from Cycle point.

Bike and biking accessories in Decathlon which can be purchased using ecochecque. — Bike and biking accessories in Decathlon can be purchased using Ecochecques.

3. Gardening materials

In the summer of 2019, we finished renovating our garden, more than half of the spending is covered by our Eco cheques! In the below picture after renovation, all the wooden floors and wooden pillars, plants, and plant containers were covered by eco cheques.

Our garden renovation before vs after — Our renovated garden before and after

Additionally, you can also buy gardening tools, garden tables, etc using eco cheques. You can find the products easily on Coolblue, Brico, Hubo, etc.

Gardening tools can be purchased by eco cheques on Coolblue

4. Water-saving appliances

All the appliances contributing to water-saving can also be paid for using Eco cheques, you can easily find them in stores such as Hubo.

All the water saving home appliances which can be paid by eco cheques — All the water-saving home appliances can be paid for by eco cheques

5. Home isolation

Home isolation contributes to energy saving, so the isolation materials can also be purchased using eco cheques.

Home isolation materials in Hubo can be purchased using eco cheques

6. Lamps

You can buy energy-saving lamps in Ikea, Hubo, Brico, and so on.

7. Food with bio label

If you are going to buy some organic food, make sure to use your eco cheques! Look for things with the above label and ask if you can pay for Eco cheques! My favorite shop is Nature & Decouvertes, last year I spent almost all of my eco cheques in that shop, buying tea for myself and my friends, make sure you go and discover it!

Also, check out other shops such as The barn..

Note, that you cannot use eco cheques on bio planet yet.

8. Sustainable tourism and culture

Some of the cultural attractions such as Antwerp Zoo subscription, tourism attractions, vacation parks such as Central Parcs, hotels, restaurants, etc with The Green Key label can also be paid for using eco cheques. Discover 246 locations with the Green Key label in Belgium here!

Discover the touristic attractions with green key label — Discover the Belgian tourist attractions with green key labels – accept eco cheques

9. Secondhand shopping with eco cheques

Giving objects a second life reduces the carbon footprint, it also creates local job opportunities, contributing to sustainable development.

I have to admit that I am not an expert in secondhand shopping, but a colleague recommended a website www.troc.com from where she purchased half of her furniture using eco cheques, and she’s quite happy about them.

I also discovered a few second-hand clothes such as De Kringwinkel, Les petits riens, all the items can also be paid for via eco cheques.

You can also buy all sorts of second-hand electronic items from Cash converters, they have stores all over Belgium, and after visiting their website, I plan to go shopping on one of the upcoming weekends and meanwhile sell some items sitting idle at home.